Friday, October 13, 2006

Gatling snark

Quick, crude and nasty - here we go:

Air America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. They had filed for intellectual bankruptcy from their inception, of course, but the creditors are apparently getting tired of waiting to get paid back. Some credit goes to my fellow Beloit alum Evan Montvel-Cohen for his bizzaro financing schemes (all Al Franken had to do was to ask me and I could have filled him in about EMC), but there's a limit to how much audience something like this would have. And we're finding out now.

So Ted Kennedy went a-campaigning in Christopher Shay's district in Connecticut recently and started in on the Foley scandal, especially concerning Dennis Hastert. Shays had the temerity to mention Chappaquiddick, saying something like "Dennis Hastert never killed anyone." Oooh, that hurt. Memo to DNC: if you want to bruit about scandals generally, and sex scandals in particular, don't send Ted.

Word of Shays' shot reached the increasingly tiresome Don Shelby, who used his daily commentary slot on the WCCO news to decry Shays for a lack of civility. Don is apparently much more bothered by Shays's mentioning of Chappaquiddick than he is of what Ted Kennedy did (and, more importantly, didn't) 36 years ago. As always, Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.

There's been an interesting discussion going on between Star Tribune political reporter Eric Black and Hugh Hewitt, the former Justic Department lawyer/Reagan operative turned talk show host. Black has appeared on Hewitt's show twice in the past week to discuss the propriety of the scurrilous ads that Patty Wetterling has been running. It's been pretty fascinating stuff. Black is a good guy and tries to be fair, but he is a liberal, of course, though he's loath to admit it. There are transcripts at www.radioblogger.com; they are worth a look.

It's not the drunk driving that assures Kennedy a special spot in hell. It's the selfishness and preference for his career and status vs. doing the right thing that caused him to decide to leave her to die. One can debate about which is more unacceptable, and neither is defensible, but Kennedy remains, and Foley does not. A drunken Icon for the masses, and by Democratic choice, a role model for the party....

Hey execu-bot, long time no hear! Glad to see you're still on board. Now, again, in re X-rated IMs vs. Chappaquiddick, it's pretty simple: No one died as a result of Mark Foley. Mary Jo Kopechne has beed dead 36 years. If you or I had done something similar, we wouldn't be looking at a DUI, we'd be looking at vehicular homicide. And rightly so.

The victims of Foley were wronged - no doubt about that. But they get to live and probably will get a book deal, too. Mary Jo Kopechne is dead. No comparison.

Foley is gone and he should be. Kennedy has stained the Congress for over 40 years and no one does a thing about it.